I Can See Clearly Now...

Yesterday was a very cool day. My friends Eliot and Kellie and I all had a lovely dim sum lunch downtown. Lately, it seems like all I crave is ethnic food. Dim Sum, Thai, Chinese, taqueria... The difference between Kellie and I is she is more Yank Sing whereas I am more Good Luck. The less English spoken and the cheaper and ruder the service, the better I like it. Kellie is more about the presentation and the cleanliness. Probably because I worked in restaurants for so many years, I realize that nothing is ever really clean. (I am so bitter and jaded at times.) Eliot gamely tagged along as he always does. He is allergic to shrimp and it is nearly impossible to find any dishes on the dim sum carts that do not contain shrimp. We made a valiant effort, but some mini ones made their way into one of his dumplings anyway. Good thing he is a good sport. Still, the place we ate was decent and the company even better. Good times, good times.

After lunch, I dropped Eliot back off at the hotel and headed east across the Bay Bridge to my casa along with Kellie. I dropped off my car and we headed to San Ramon for my LASIK procedure with Dr Scott Hyver. (Another shameless plug, but he does great work and is a really cute guy to boot.) We arrived promptly at 4 PM. The office staff verify your prescription once more and perform a series of tests. They then bring you into a room with a large machine. You lay down on a bed, they cover one eye and tape the other open. They numb your eye and then hold it open with a metal clip. Then the doctor makes the incision with a laser and goes to work. Total time for each eye is likely less than five minutes including prep time. The doctor and his staff was extremely professional and explained exactly what they were doing throughout the whole procedure. Modern medicine is truly amazing. After the procedure, they put a pair of Yoko Ono shades on me and I walked out. My vision was corrected almost immediately. It was blurry in spots, but much better than I expected. From several of my friends, I had heard stories of bad irritation and burning sensations, feelings of sand or other types of particles in your eye, and more. I am pleased to report that I did not experience any of these things. I got home around 6 PM, Kellie left around 7 PM, I called a few friends, listened to the radio, and then crashed around 9 PM. (You have to wear goggles while you sleep for the first couple of weeks.) I woke up at 2 AM, administered some drops and crashed back out. I woke up around 7 AM and my vision was nearly perfect. My eyes feel slightly tired, but nothing unbearable at all. I have been administering drops per the doctors instructions and went in for my follow up visit this afternoon. Everything looks good and I am seeing better than 20/20! Impressive stuff. They say your vision improves gradually over your first month, but I have no complaints. Everything is crystal clear now, so I cannot ask for more than that.

I had given thought to LASIK for several years, but I did not find wearing glasses to be a big overwhelming burden and I was waiting to make sure people would not be going blind years down the road. I am very pleased with the results thus far and I will test my night vision tonight as I drive to work for some late night overtime.

Hope you are all doing well. Cuidate.